Mountain arnica (Arnica montana L.) does not grow well in Estonia
even if cultivated, as it prefers warmer climate. The name arnica
(Estonian arnika), however, is known in Estonian folk medicine, and
information on its use for healing various diseases can be obtained from
numerous folklore reports, which makes arnica one of the thirty most
popular plant names in Estonian herbal folk medicine. Although some of
the records refer to the herb purchased form from a pharmacy, most of
them point to locally growing plants. Collected Records indicate that at
least 19 local plants were known by the name of arnica among Estonians
at the turn of the 20th century (Vilbaste 1993).

How did arnica become known in Estonia? Which plants were most
often called by this name? Was it just an external similarity of the
local plants to A. montana that caused them to be used as a substitution
for it? The paper addresses those questions and seeks to find an
explanation for the phenomenon.

2. Research background

To write this paper, two massive databases have been used, the
latter of which is still in its initial phase:

1) The collection of Estonian plant names, which was started by the
pioneer of Estonian ethnobotany Gustav Vilbaste (1885-1967) and finished
by his colleagues after his death. It contains several thousand folk
plant names registered in different parishes of Estonia and their Latin
equivalents as well as information on folk plant names gathered from
botanical literature on Estonian flora (Vilbaste 1993).

2) The database of Estonian traditional medicinal plants HERBA is
based on data from the Estonian Folklore Archives. The material
preserved there has been collected over a period of 150 years1. The
database is still being completed and has gone through several
structural changes. The current paper refers to its two different parts
that are located at separate addresses at present. The so-called old
version (HERBA 2006) contains more data, but the texts presented there
have not been checked or edited. Nonetheless, this database is quite a
good resource for following tendencies in herbal folk medicine. This
version contains mostly materials originating from the 20th century,
while the new version (HERBA 2007) contains checked and edited texts
from the end of the 19th century.

Both databases were searched in order to find data relevant to the
name arnica. An overview is also given of what was written about arnica
in popular medical publications.

2.1. Arnica in popular medical books, almanacs and folklore before
1900

Mountain arnica was first mentioned in Estonian botanical
literature in 1777 by the Baltic German writer and linguist August
Wilhelm Hupel (1737-1819), who mentions mountain arnica among local
plants (Hupel 1777:519). The young Estonian botanist Toomas Kukk states
in his reference book on Estonian flora that mountain arnica seldom
grows cultivated in Estonia, and there are no proofs of its growing wild
in earlier times (Kukk 1999:99). No present-day researchers have found
any trace of mountain arnica in Estonia. Gustav Vilbaste admits that,
although people have reported that arnica was growing in the local
forest, they have meant different local plants from such genera as
Leontodon, Hieracium, Crepis, Solidago (Vilbaste 1993:174).

2.1.1. Popular medical books and almanacs

In the Estonian language, arnica was first mentioned in a popular
medical book by pastor Otto August Jannau (1800-1865). His book was
reprinted six times in 12,500 copies in total. The plant name arnica
appears in a separate chapter among many other local plants and one of
the indications for its use is straining of the stomach (2) (Jannau
1857:32). The text actually describes St. John's wort (Hypericum
perforatum L.), and indeed, the plant is initially named naiste puna,
which is the most common Estonian equivalent for H. perforatum. The name
arnica is only of secondary importance here. However, this was
sufficient reason for the name and the description to appear together
next time almost forty years later in the translation of a book by the
German pastor and founder of hydrotherapy Sebastian Kneipp (1821-1897)
(Kneipp 1895:112-113). The book was translated from the German original
Meine Wasserkur and published in Estonian in 1895 (nine years after the
publication of the first printing of the original) in 3000 copies. The
name arnica appears here alongside its Latin name, but the description
of the plant and the suitable time for its gathering have been copied
from Jannau's book. Again, it is St. John's wort that is
described (3). The translator seems to have been trying to make things
too easy for the reader and has transferred the foreign plant into local
surroundings, borrowing the description from Jannau's book that
used the same name for it. Moreover, if we compare this translation with
the reprint of the original (Kneipp 1894), an important detail
emerges--the translator has also added new descriptions of plants'
appearance and habitats in many other chapters of the book.

The almanacs and especially their medical supplements were always
popular among their target group as they were cheap, and interesting to
read (Martsoo 2007). As the authors of most articles in the almanacs are
unknown, we cannot speculate much about their sources (and the precision
of translations in them). An exception is Parnu Almanac that recommends
arnica for healing bruises, adding that information has been taken from
a Russian almanac for the year 1880 (PK 1879). Indeed, the arnica
mentioned there is not local--but who can be sure that the reader
noticed it? Almanac of S. W. Haynberg's shop for the year 1896
describes arnica as one among many drop-medicines--medicines so potent
that they have to be administered in drops only (SWHKK 1895). Later, in
the Almanac of Estonians for 1899, the use of the medicinal herbs is
addressed more critically. Arnica is mentioned there amongst strong
medicines the reader must be familiar with and compared to
Kusmitsh's herb which is sold in drugstores at a high price (SL
1898). Such a formulation gives us reason to conclude that by the end of
the 19th century at least one plant named arnica was well known and
growing locally, so that it needed no introduction, at least in the
opinion of the author (4) of the almanac article.

2.1.2. Folklore

The description of how arnica was used in the 19th century is given
according to HERBA 2007, which contains 833 texts on herbal healing from
the collection of the famous Estonian folklorist and linguist Jakob
Hurt. The name arnica appears in five texts (thus, it is amongst the 40
most popular plants). None of the texts explicitly points to the usage
of a non-local herb. The first text compares the usage of arnica with
that of puffball (Bovista

nigrescens Pers.), which has usually been applied to heal wounds
and to stop bleeding (H II 12, 170 (40)). All the other plants mentioned
by this informant are local (H II 12, 168-171), but in his report he
also speaks about some medicines that originate from a pharmacy or
druggist, such as saltpeter (H II 12, 169 (32)) and saffron (H II 12,
169 (31)). That probably required some knowledge of popular medical
texts.

The second text (H II 16, 560 (7)) suggests that arnica should be
used against stomach ache if other homemade medicines listed before (a
tablespoon of ashes or powdered brick, coal, rust or iron dust with
water or vodka (H II 16, 558 (3)) did not help. That makes us think that
the informant may be describing the use of arnica originating from the
pharmacy, especially because the text mentions two medicines that can be
purchased only there.

The third text (H I 9, 40 (12)) indicates that there might be
several kinds of arnica: yellow (kollane) and white (valge)
forest-arnicas (metsarnikad). That leaves space for speculation that
there may be also non-forest (e.g. grassland) arnicas alongside wild and
cultivated arnicas5. The colour of arnicas may indicate the colour of
their flowers, and if the equivalent for white arnica might be
meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria (L.) Maxim.) (Vilbaste 1993: 317-318),
then yellow arnica can denote at least ten plants. In the text, those
two arnicas are mentioned among ten other local plants as a medicine for
a bewitched child. The text also includes a very detailed description
how the medication should be prepared as well as a discussion of its
numerous magical features alongside rational treatment.

The fourth text describes a specific use for arnica--inside pain
(seest valu), which is comparable to straining. It also provides an
instruction for drying the plants, which indicates exactly that the
plants must be local or at least domesticated.

The last text (H II 7, 883 (2)) describes the use of arnica to heal
straining. This text also indicates the need for drying the plant.

In 20th-century Estonian folk medicine arnica was used (according
to HERBA 2006) for 25 indications. The most popular disease treated with
arnica is straining (27 texts), which is followed by stomach ache (5
texts). Rheumatism, cold and inside pain have been mentioned twice.
Other indications are named only once. It is interesting to note that
the later texts are mostly succinct and give no hint about the origin of
the plant.

3. Ethnopharmacology of arnicas

In Estonian ethnomedicine, arnica was mostly used to treat
straining, being mentioned among medicines for straining by O.A. Jannau
as early as in 1857 and in the almanac for 1880. Was it just a placebo
effect supported by the name? If, however, we take a closer look at the
local plants known by the name of arnica here, a different picture
appears. According to Gustav Vilbaste (1993), the most popular plants
known by the name of arnica were six species from the Asteraceae family.
Two species from genus Leontodon--Leontodon autumnalis L. and Leontodon
hispidus L.--could not be distinguished by local people. Other popular
species were: mouse-ear hawkweed (Pilosella officinarum F.W.Schultz et
Sch.Bip.), narrowleaf hawksbeard (Crepis tectorum L.) and goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea L.). Willow-leaved inula (Inula salicina L.) was
also quite popular. The other 13 plants named arnica are represented
only in few reports and are not included in the current study.

If five of the six listed plants are quite similar to mountain
arnica, then one (goldenrod) resembles arnica only by the colour of its
flowers. All of them are common in Estonia, but are not significant
culturally. Vilbaste's (1993) analysis of plant names gives us the
following results:

Crepis tectorum was mostly known as arnica and possessed no other
names indicating its usage in folk medicine. Inula salicina was also
called by names of other species first introduced in Estonia as
medicinal plants (ingver, alant). Alant was a name used for I. helenium,
the 'big brother' of I. salicina (see also Kalle 2007). The
other four species were occasionally called by names that indicated
their use for healing straining or other conditions associated with the
stomach area. The names used were:

and also karnarohi (scab herb), which may be another initial
indication of mountain arnica (Jannau 1857).

The following gives an overview of the use of mountain arnica and
the other plants mentioned in folk medicine of other nations and/or
their phytochemical components.

3.1. Arnica montana

From mountain arnica, mostly its flowers (Arnicae flos) are used.
Arnica is used mainly externally for treatment of bruises, sprains, and
inflammation caused by insect bites, gingivitis; also for symptomatic
treatment of rheumatic and angial complaints; for mild cardiovascular
complaints or as a haemostatic in gynaecology (ESCOP 2003, Weiss and
Fintelmann 2000, Yakovlev and Blinova 2004).

Even the external use of mountain arnica may cause allergic
reactions, and the application of its tincture has triggered allergic
skin reactions. Arnica should not be applied to broken skin (Barnes,
Anderson, and Phillipson 2002, Blumental, Goldberg, and Brinckmann
2000). Clinical tests do not suggest that homeopathic arnica is more
effective than placebo to conditions associated with tissue trauma
(Ernst and Pittler 1998).

3.2. Leontodon autumnalis and Leontodon hispidus

There is little information on the use of Leontodon spp. for
medical purposes. It is a seldom used herb, the effect of which (mostly
on kidneys) has been considered similar to that of dandelion (Taraxacum
officinale F.H.Wigg. s.1.) (Grieve 1998). Sesquiterpenoids of the
guaiane type (crepidiaside A and B) are isolated from the sub-aerial
parts of L. autumnalis; they occur in all investigated members of the
section Oporinia (L. autumnalis, L. croceus, L. helveticus, L.
montaniformis, L. montanus, L. pyrenaicus, and L. rilaensis) (Zidorn et
al. 2000). Chemotypes of L. autumnalis are found among 24 Central
European drug samples (Grass et al. 2006). Later, luteolin-derivatives
and caffeic acid derivatives have been identified in different Leontodon
species (Zidorn and Stuppner, 2001). Zidorn et al. (1999) report the
cytotoxic effects of three hypocretenolides from L. hispidus on
different tumour cell lines. Flavonoids, phenolic acids and
sesquiterpene lactones have been considered qualitative and quantitative
chemosystematic markers in the genus Leontodon (Zidorn and Stuppner
2001).

3.3. Pilosella officinarum (syn. Hieracium pilosella)

Mouse-ear hawkweed has been widely used since the Middle Ages
(Chevallier, 2000). The whole plant can be useful, but most often the
herb alone is used without the root. The herb is known in folk medicine
as an antiphlogistic and constringent; it increases biliary secretion
and stops internal bleeding. As a spasmolytic and expectorant, it has
been employed internally in the treatment of asthma, bronchitis, cough
and externally in the treatment of wounds. It is a bitter, antibiotic
herb, which reduces inflammation, increases salivation, etc (Bown 1996,
Chevallier 2000, PDR 1998, Yakovlev and Blinova 1999).

The herb of narrowleaf hawksbeard is used in Tibetan medicine for
treating bronchitis, pneumonia and arteriosclerosis, and against emesis.
Its infusion is effective against bone tuberculosis, some diseases of
the nervous system and as a purgative. Ground drug is put on skin to
soften furuncles, and the herb has been used for bathing of tired legs
(Lavrenov and Lavrenova, 2003).

The drug has been tested phytochemically only by a few researchers;
it contains several sesquiterpene lactones, flavonoids and
[gamma]-lactones, vitamin C (in fresh offshoots), etc (Adekenov et al.
1991, Adekenov 1995, Kisiel and Kohlmunzer 1989, Lavrenov and Lavrenova
2003).

Willow-leaved inula is not yet used in contemporary medicine. The
only extensively employed species from the genus Inula are Inula conyza
(Griess.), Inula helenium L. and, to a lesser extent, I. britannica L.
(Yakovlev and Blinova, 1999).

From the roots of I. salicina two aromatic esters of isobutyric
acid and a vinylpentaacetylene have been extracted (Anthonsen and
Kjoesen 1971). Other species of Inula contain phenoloids,
eudesmanolides, germacranolides, guaianolides, sesquiterpene lactones
and thymol derivatives (Bohlmann et al. 1978, Peter and Dosa 2002).

4. Discussion

Among the species discussed above, only mountain arnica and, to
some extent, goldenrod are known as classical medicinal plants. In the
last ten years, interest in the chemical compounds of the other species
mentioned has increased , but this is probably caused rather by the need
to investigate the species with lesser-known chemical composition than
interest in some particular species.

These species have little in common chemically, but most of them
have at least been used in folk medicines of other nations. In this
light, it seems that all the plants most often called arnicas could have
been used for treatment of straining in one way or another , not only
because of their names (or similarity to the name-provider) but also
because of real biological activity.

Indeed, there seems to be good reason to undertake further research
into those six species. If we assume that there are 114 species of
Asteraceae growing in Estonia (Raal and Soukand 2005), and a
considerable number of them look like arnica, then there had to be some
reasons for choosing namely these species among the many. This means
that the plants that might have already been used for treating
stomach-related problems were just renamed with the potent name.

There is probably another point needing clarification. If the
almanacs mention arnica just as a local plant, then the popular medical
books (Jannau, Kneipp) connect the name with a particular local
plant--St. John's wort According to Vilbaste, there is only one
report indicating that local people called St. John's wort arnica,
although the plant itself was also occasionally used to treat straining.
That makes us believe that published information was not followed
exactly, but only some bits of it were incorporated into the local
medical tradition. The reason for that can be the fact that St.
John's wort was also a culturally significant plant--its red juice
was associated with the blood of Christ and with womanhood.

5. Conclusions

The name of the classical medicinal plant Arnica montana definitely
became known in Estonia before the mid-19th century, but it is
impossible to tell when exactly the name first turned up in folklore.
The name gained wider popularity when it was attached to local plants in
popular medical books and almanacs. The name arnica was most often given
to plants that had at least two of three important characteristics in
common: their appearance was similar to mountain arnica; they had other
names indicating their usage for healing similar diseases; they are
common in Estonia and easily available, yet do not have a noteworthy
meaning from the cultural viewpoint.

(1) For further information on collecting and storing of materials
of Estonian folk medicine, see Soukand & Raal 2006:175-182.

(2) Straining (venitus) is a folk name for pain in the stomach
region, and its possible etiology in folk medicine is overworking or
lifting too much weight. Almost every problem associated with the
stomach area (except severe diarrhea) could be called by this name.

(3) In the same book we find another description of the same plant
family, this time in the right chapter and also having a Latin
equivalent that suits its description (Hypericum perforatum, named Jaani
puna [John's red] in Estonian), although actually the paragraph
describes another species of the same plant family (H. maculatum) (Kneip
1895:118). As these species are very similar, it is difficult for the
untrained eye to differentiate between them.